In Brief
This appeal concerned a partition suit where a woman claimed a share in the estate of Hanumanthappa as his widow. The First Appellate Court and High Court had accepted her claim, finding her to be the deceased's wife. The Supreme Court reversed this decision, holding that the plaintiff failed to establish her marriage to Hanumanthappa. She had never formally pleaded that she married him under any recognized legal regime—whether the Hindu Marriage Act, Special Marriage Act, 1954, or by custom. Without proper pleading and proof of the marriage, she could not inherit from his estate merely by asserting that a defendant was her father-in-law. The appeal was allowed.
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